Skip to main content
About us
  1. Queen Mary University of London
  2. About us
  3. Sustainability
  4. Operations
  5. Sustainable Food

Sustainable Food

Embedding good environmental practices into the way we source, prepare and process food has the potential to enhance our environmental performance and reduce the environment impacts of the food we serve across our campuses.

Food and Drink on Campus

An image of inside the curve resturant

Outlets across our campuses have taken action to increase the availability of alternatives to foods of animal origin. Mucci's on Mile End campus reopened in early 2020 as a meat-free option for students and staff. All University and Students' Union outlets also participate in the Meat-Free Mondays initiative, offering a 20% discount on meat-free products.

See more information about our food outlets.

To promote sustainable drink consumption, outlets at QMUL offer a discount for hot drinks sold in reusable cups- 20% at Students' Union outlets and University venues. As well as this, free access to drinking water is available across the University. Find the nearest using our water fountain map below.

Water Fountain Map pdf [PDF 408KB]

You can read our latest Sustainable Food and Catering Policy below:

Queen Mary Sustainable Catering Policy 2022 [PDF 82KB]

Reducing Food Waste

Paper Food bag

We have a number of initiatives in place to reduce the food waste produced on our campuses. Using the Too Good to Go application, the University and Students' Union outlets saved 797 meals from going to waste in 2018/19. Find out more and download the app. 

Our regular student volunteering activities also support Bow Foodbank and Whitechapel Mission locally with regular collections held on campus. For information about volunteering opportunities, see the Students' Union website. 

Commitments: Sustainable Food and Catering 

  • We will continue to implement initiatives that reduces food waste from our catering outlets.
  • We will continue to ensure that all our major catering and food suppliers have a certified Environmental Management System.
  • We will continue to exclude fish species classified as “at risk” by the Marine Conservation Society and only accept fish from sustainable sources.
  • We will continue to use food and services from responsible and ethical sources
  • We will continue to increase the proportion of meals rich in fruit, vegetables, pulses, and nuts, while reducing foods of animal origin, because livestock farming is one of the significant contributors to climate change
  • In the longer term, we aim to significantly increase our sustainable food and menu offerings and to significantly reduce the energy used to process food across our catering outlets.
Back to top